


A Princess' Guide to Ultimate Lazer Tag

by vegalocity



Series: The one where Star Butterfly Replaces Mineta in 1-A [2]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: A sort of Sequel to 'An earthling's guide to dealing with Mewberty', Autistic Iida Tenya, Crush realization, F/M, Pre-ship, Protective Star Butterfly, Star butterfly replaces Mineta Minoru, Star doing her best, Star twists Iida's arm into having some fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 04:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20001973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vegalocity/pseuds/vegalocity
Summary: Iida was going to have fun today if it killed the both of them.





	A Princess' Guide to Ultimate Lazer Tag

**Author's Note:**

> So this was my submission for the WIP Big Bang project, I don't know if i'll enter it again next year, since i'm best known for my long going sprawling odysseys it's likely that I won't have a long enough oneshot come next year, but this was fun when i had it.
> 
> Link to my artist's accompanying images[Here!](https://pennywaltzy.tumblr.com/post/186544241392/art-for-a-princess-guide-to-ultimate-lazer-tag)

Maybe Star should have considered herself lucky that she'd gone through Mewberty only a few days before the UA Sports Festival. While it didn't exactly _help_ her, it did indicate that she was capable of Wandless Magic. And granted how close it had been to the sports festival, it was... very lucky that she'd gotten it over with before the whole damn student body was on TV.

Iida really did her a big favor on that day; easing her through Mewberty and staving off the absolute fiasco it could have otherwise been if she’d been let to rampage campus. Kidnapping boys in their grade, and likely getting expelled wouldn’t have been a very good mark on the records regarding Earth’s first official interaction with the multiverse.

She'd kept her word and made him a particularly nice Mewman lunch as a thank you with what Momo's family had in their kitchens—She wasn't the best at making Earth cuisine, but Star Butterfly did know corn, and she could make a damn good sweet corn mash—but it had felt so little in comparison to what he'd done for her, it just wasn't enough.

Which was why she was particularly miffed when the class went out for their internships and he _still_ hadn't cashed in the other part of her offer yet.

If anything, it was necessary now more than ever.

Star didn't have any siblings, older or younger, so she couldn't even imagine what he must have been going through, but that's what made taking a break from all of it so important. He was acting like nothing was wrong and Star could get on his level for that—she was self aware enough to know that she would also avoid her problems most of the time by acting like they didn’t exist—but everyone was worried, and Star was no exception. Iida needed a break.

And what better break than spending a day dimension hopping?

Star spent her internship with a Science-y Hero who called herself Chemaestro—a fellow foreigner who had only gotten her pro hero license to be able to defend herself and her field team when they were doing their research—and spent the whole time making coffee runs, holding tongs during dissections, and preparing for how she'd twist her friend's arm to force him into having some damn fun.

Star had a lot of time to brood over those kinds of thoughts during her internship. She had to keep her Mirror on silent whenever she was holding stuff for Chemaestro's experiments, and it should have been a simple, boring week to stew over things and plan them out. By the end of the first day she might as well have turned her Mirror off, from all the hands-on dissection and research she needed to help with. She ended up missing a total of twenty texts from Ponyhead, five from Tom, two missed calls from Kelly, a dozen update texts from Momo, three from Uraraka and four from Hagakure and Ashido each. Oh, and one weirdly cryptic location share from Midoriya that didn't gain context until she'd seen the press release about the Hosu event the next morning.

She'd sent a few herself of course, mostly to those who had sent texts to her—except for Tom, because crying about cute things should only be responded to in the moment. Kelly and Tad had broken up and made up in the span of those two calls, Ponyhead was sending her codes through inside jokes from Saint O's, and her Earth friends were having a ball during their own internships.

She'd sent a couple of texts to Iida, to try and ascertain whether he'd be okay enough for her to be more playful in twisting his arm or if everything that had been happening at home and with his brother were still too raw and she'd have to be more sincere in the matter.

Then word of what had happened the night of the Cryptic Location Share came out. Star had been making a coffee run when she'd seen a report about it on the grainy gas station TV, and corroborated it on her mirror as she made her way back to the research post.

The way the report talked about what had happened and how the hero Endeavor had saved Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida from Stain implied it wasn't that big of a deal; that didn't mean no damage was done. Anyone with any ability to read people would see that Iida was way less okay than he was letting on before they all parted ways, and that was _specifically_ because of the Hero Killer.

That could _not_ have been a fun night at all for him.

He needed a break, he needed to have some mindless fun. It was the least Star could do.

* * *

Star didn't like going to class early. While it was _possible_ to do, she and Momo always got breakfast together before they reached UA, and coming in early meant she had to skip breakfast entirely and leave her flatmate in the dust.

Star had done it before, something that was entirely Glossaryk's fault; his stupid lessons about the magical properties of celestial bodies and how Earth’s weren't too different than Mewni’s, and, ‘Sunrise and sunset are the two most magical times of the day on this planet so you should get some training in during sunrise, Star.’

It was for that reason why Star knew Iida was always the first one in the classroom, most days even beating Aizawa Sensei—to the point where he had a spare key for the whole damn classroom, like who is _that_ pumped about school?!

Star hadn't had much of a school experience, but from what she'd gathered it was all early mornings, exhaustion, and very little chance of anyone but your fellow students helping you understand something, because your teachers are mostly still doing hero work and you didn’t want to take time out of their schedules because you didn't understand something. (Honestly, thank the Ancestors for Momo and Iida in that particular minefield, because Star would have probably flunked out of UA already if not for the two of them taking pity on her poor alien soul—which was just another reason for her to help Iida, actually.)

The point was, she didn't like skipping breakfast to get to class early, but this time she was a woman on a mission. Besides, Great-Grandma Skywynne had her covered. If her energy got too low she could probably just go to the bathroom and use the food summoning spell. Star hadn't tried it in enclosed spaces yet, but she was sure it would just be a small cloud of foodstuff gathered on the ceiling for a way shorter time.

It would be something to try out if she couldn't wait till lunch.

And as it was, it was a comfort for when she marched into UA on an empty stomach, unaccompanied by Momo, and intent on forcing another one of her friends to have some goddamn fun.

As predicted the door was unlocked when she reached 1-A, and inside, reading silently at his desk, was Iida.

He looked up from his book to greet her;the surprise at that it was her and not some other more regularly punctual student was tangible.

“Good morning, Butterfly-kun!”

Star's grin was as bright and cheerful as she could possibly manage with zero food in her stomach and the last vestiges of sleep still clinging to her wings.

“Morning, Iida-kun!” She waved as she strolled over to her desk, right between Momo and Midoriya, a window beside her to stare dreamily out of between the lessons she struggled to keep up with. Carefully she placed her bag—a pink messenger bag with yellow stars on it—onto the hook on her desk and took a deep breath.

_Okay Star, you got this._

Iida looked up from his book at her again as she strode over to him, approaching his desk from the side and blocking one way out.

“Are you alright, Butterfly-kun? I'll admit it is rather odd for you to show up without Yaoyorozu in tow, as the two of you live together. Do you require my assistance with something?”

Dammit, he was so nice. Star almost felt bad for what had to be done. But it was for his own good.

“Actually, yeah. Iida-kun, I just realized something pretty important recently, and I think it's time I bring it to your attention.”

He glanced over her shoulder at her bag, he was probably assuming she meant something school related.

“Not school related,” she added on quickly. When his eyes flicked back to her she continued, folding her arms and doing her best to look sincere, but playfully aggravated at the same time. “Mewmans don't take debt very lightly, Iida-kun. I owe you after what you did to help me when I was going through a rough patch.” She watched him blush at the mention of her Mewberty incident “ It's now been weeks since you accepted my offer of going dimension hopping with no set date in mind. We just recently finished our internships and finals are just around the bend.”

Realization passed over his features, but no sort of positive or negative response to the idea of what she was clearly going to finish up with.

“You're already like, the most high strung person in class—excluding Bakugou, of course—so I'm taking it upon myself to force your hand.”

Star tried not to be too unsurprised when Iida immediately shot to his feet, hands waving wildly as he assured her he didn't need her to force him to have some damn fun.

“Butterfly-kun, that's not necessary! I can assure you I'm perfectly fine! Perhaps we can schedule such a thing during summer break instead of a time when testing is getting so close!” If he didn't constantly avoid making eye contact with people Star would have taken him visibly focusing on her cheek marks as proof he was bullshitting her, but he did, so she couldn't.

All the same, it didn't make him right, or 'perfectly fine' for that matter.

“Testing getting so close is exactly _why_ it's gotta happen now! Come on, Iida. You should know as well as I do that people can't bounce from one stressful thing to another! Just sacrifice _one_ Saturday to the party gods and I can _promise_ you that you'll feel way better when you dig into the books on Sunday!

“And then we can say we're square,easing my pride as a Princess who owes a debt, so you'll be helping _me_ focus on _my_ studies as well!” Hopefully that did the trick.

She could practically see the 'if__, then __'s buzz around Iida's head as he considered Star's words.

“I've already established that you do not need to 'owe' me for simply assisting you through a difficult part of your biology, but if that's how you insist upon seeing it, to the point where it impedes your concentration in class, I suppose it would be prudent that it be taken care of at our earliest convenience. I doubt you'll consider dropping the debt at my insistence?”

“Hell no. You said yes to a dimension hopping day, so we're doing it.”

He finally gave her a curt nod before pulling a small planner out from his backpack.

“Very well. As it is, this coming Saturday was marked on my calendar as to be primarily for studying, so if you do indeed require the whole day that would be the best time; it won't impede my own studies much and it will put your mind at ease soon enough for your own studies to not be greatly affected.”

“This Saturday it is then!”

She offered him her hand, and they shook on it.

* * *

Sure Star may have been... exaggerating a bit about the Mewman Honor stuff, but in her defense she actually would be able to focus better at the idea that she helped her friend unwind for a bit. Even if he got right back on that high strung rope afterward, he would know she was always down to hang out and turn their brains off for a few hours. And he'd know that because she'd make an open offer at the end of it all and tell him she's always down to take a break somewhere fun.

And he'd consider it a real offer and not just a hollow, polite thing because Star would make _sure_ he'd have fun on this adventure.

But it occurred to her, on Friday night no less, that this would be the first time anyone in class other than Momo saw her in her normal clothes (as everyone was still in uniform when she insisted on showing their group the Bounce Lounge) and so she had to make a good first impression of Mewman fashion.

“What do ya think, Momo? Green spider dress, or blue tank top dress?” Momo was reading from her place sitting on Star's trunk as Star rifled through her closet in the guest bedroom, and though she didn't look up from her book Star knew she knew exactly what dresses she was referring to.

“I'd avoid the tank top dress, it's supposed to be pretty chilly tomorrow night.”

“Okay, so green spider? I dunno... it feels too... little... ya know?”

“What about that pink outfit with the suspenders?” Momo's eyes flicked up at Star then. The two of them were in their pajamas at the moment, Star's purple nightgown contrasting with Momo's silk pants and shirt, and you'd never guess which of them was the literal princess by first glance.

“That's my partying outfit! I don't wanna wear too much, we're gonna be going to like a bunch of different dimensions tomorrow! I gotta be able to move around.”

“That's fair, What about the teal one with the octopus on it? That was _my_ first impression of Mewni fashion.”

That... was an excellent point.

“Oh yeah... gives me an excuse to bring my purse too. That thing doesn't have pockets.”Carefully Star pulled the teal dress from its hanger and held it up to her shoulders. It was indeed the one she came to Earth in, and really, she did like wearing it.

“Okay, teal octopus it is!”

“You're getting really excited about this.” Momo turned the page of her book so pointedly Star wondered how long she'd been waiting to do so. “I mean, I suppose I'd be excited if I was about to go on a date with someone I have a crush on too, but this is a little silly.”

Her brain froze over for a second, caught off guard and absolutely blindsided.

“Oh my gosh, Momo!” She threw a sock ball at her friend, who, obviously, deflected the projectile with ease.

* * *

She didn't feel silly for worrying too much about her outfit, but she did maybe wonder if the green dress was good enough after all; Star deliberated all the way up till it was Saturday at ten till eleven—the sun high in the sky—when she stood at the front of the Iida household, and confidently knocked on the door.

He'd tried to insist that he pick her up, but quite frankly Star felt like since this ‘Friend Date’ was supposed to be focused around helping Iida let loose and have some fun, she should be the one to do the picking up.

She didn't have to wait more than a few seconds before the door opened.

“Butterfly-kun!”

A polo shirt and khakis, why was she worried about her dress again? Star honestly didn't know what she expected. “I see that you are approximately ten minutes early in accordance to our outing, and though I am aware we agreed to spend this time traversing the multiverse, I must insist that you come in for a small time so as to properly explain which worlds we are to be traversing, so I may prepare as necessary.”

“Oh, alright!”

Her boots looked so strange in his shoe closet, long and purple with horns and eyes, contrasting sharply with the rows and rows of neatly placed sneakers and dress shoes--she giggled quietly before joining Iida in the adjoining room.

The Iida household was... well, it was exactly as Star had expected it to be. Perfectly clean, but homey. Pictures of Iida, his brother, and the people who Star could trust were the rest of his family, were scattered, seemingly randomly, across the decently large receiving room, and in a weird way she hadn't quite felt her title of 'Rebel Princess' as strongly as she did when she came to the realization that she must look like a strange element of chaos in this pristine home.

She almost felt the urge to sit with proper throne posture as she took the offered seat in the cushy seat opposite Iida, but thankfully she was able to quash that little bit of princess training and instead leaned onto her knees as though to share a secret.

“Okay, so, like we agreed, the Bounce Lounge is a 'no', but there are SO many other great places in the multiverse, Iida-kun! There's the Amethyst Arcade, said to hold every single Arcade Game known across all dimensions; they've got a whole section of Earth games if you wanna play it safe, and a killer prize counter! So I was thinking we start there. They've got a _great_ snack bar, so we don't have to worry about finding a place for lunch.

“But if you wanna do something more exercise-y we can go hunt for our lunches in the Sandwich Dimension and then pop off to go Rainbow River Rafting in the Dowager Room instead! It's like a teacups ride, but you're rafting too! It's all spinny and you gotta hang on to the turning wheel if you don't wanna get seasick!”

Iida had leaned over onto his own knees at this point. His eyes were focused on her devil horns, but in mirroring her own movements his attention was clear, completely focused in a way that made her feel that initial anxiety again, but this time in relation to if he thought her plans were good.

He was doing a good job at reigning it in to let her tell her plans, but Iida was excited; honestly? Star didn't blame him. Insofar, Momo was the only one who had been on any _real_ adventures with her, and while her classmates all knew and understood that she was from another dimension--a few of them had already been to the Bounce Lounge--it was a completely different thing to see a whole multiverse beyond a single smokey club.

Star could only wonder at how that must feel.

“The Lazer Tag Dimension is the other thing I think you'll like! It's exactly what it says it is, but it's better than Earth lazer tag since you can totally touch other players! Makes it a lot easier to play with partners!”

“I see... I've heard of Lazer tag, but it's not overly popular in this area. I suppose we should make a stop there, if it's so popular in that dimension that it's named after the sport.” He raised a hand to rest his chin against and Star nodded, glad that at least that would be fun.

“We'll save it for last then. And since you can't be anything but on full power when doing Lazer Tag, we should do Amethyst Arcade instead of Sandwich Dimension for lunch. But we can still go rafting in the Dowager room if you want. Or sliding down the Zalla Mountain! I guess you can pick after we're done in the Arcade.”

Iida thought for a long moment, and Star was just about to start feeling awkward about it before he stood and nodded succinctly. “Very well, then. We likely should be going before my mother returns home.” He grimaced a bit as the both of them made their way back to the shoe closet. “She seemed to be under the wrong impression about our outing.”

Star actually laughed out loud in surprise at that.

“What, did she think I was blackmailing you or something?”

Momo's words echoed in her head for a quick moment, but Star was quick to shake them off. Momo was just messing with her. She acted like such a perfect princess, but she gave as good as she got when it came to teasing friends.

“Indeed. Apparently, the idea that I would voluntarily give up a studying day was more out of my usual behavior than I had previously assumed.”

He looked so surprised when he got a proper look at her boots, and honestly, if this was any indication of what he normally wore, Star wasn't surprised that her boots by themselves, let alone some of her outfits, were baffling.

“Well, I'll corrupt you yet.” Star stuck her tongue out at him as she pulled out the Dimensional Scissors Pony had given her before she'd been carted off to Saint O's. “I'll get every single one of you until our _entire group_ is hanging out on Saturdays, drinking corn shakes and watching movies!” She cackled maniacally, trying to sound as cartoonish as possible.

Iida had a nice laugh, Star thought, even if he was trying his best to act like he wasn't laughing.

And then the portal was opened.

There weren't many Squares around the arcade at this time of day--they usually congregated at night, since none of them ever had dates--but there were still enough of them to narrow their eyes at Iida and Starin suspicion.

She allowed a few short moments for Iida to take it all in, the arcade booths carved from crystal, the glowing white floors, the spikes of crystal jutting out from certain parts, and the silhouette of buildings carved from quartz in the distance.

“Pretty cool, huh? We're at the entrance right now--the prize booth and the snack bar are straight ahead. Everything else is a game or token machine.”

She bounced on the balls of her feet. Naturally they'd be sticking together, so Star prepared for that.

“I see...” Star wasn't quite sure what she'd expected, but the mild response was still a surprise.

When she turned to look at Iida he smiled at her in a way she could only call 'polite interest'. Damn... he wasn't much of a videogame person, was he? Even in arcade format.

“Well, what would you suggest we begin with, Butterfly-kun?”

Of course.

Star hummed quietly to herself as she looked over the arcade booths, here a racing game with large crystal horses as the controllers, there Lance Lance Revolution, and yet other there an archery game.

Hm...

“Well, do you like rhythm games? Or Shoot-em-ups? Are racing games not as fun when you can run so fast on your own?”

Iida wasn't often someone who looked particularly bashful on a common basis. That honor would go to Midoriya. But watching his cheeks begin to heat up and his hand begin to flap up and down reminded Star, just slightly, of something she couldn’t fully remember.

“Well.. actually, I've never...” He coughed, before saying, “I've never been to an arcade, the only video games I've played were educational, or RPGs to aid in building my strategic skills.”

A jolt of surprise danced through Star's gut at the admission. Maybe she was biased, but regular arcade trips were always something she just thought were standard. Especially when even Momo had absolutely demolished her on one of Earth's Battle video games.

“Oh wow... huh...”

Star could start out with _anything_ , couldn't she?

“Well then, we'll start slow.” She made a gesture for Iida to follow her, and after dropping a few sapphires into a nearby coin machine she passed half of the golden bounty to Iida and strode to the most chill but still fun game booth that she could think of.

“Does that say... 'Whack-a-Cone'?”

“Yeah cones are like... wild animals in this dimension. Total pests for the Squares.” She slipped a coin into the slot and with a flourish her wand head turned into a cushioned hammer not unlike the mallet of the actual game.

The music began, and Star went to town. She'd selected hard mode, so the Cones came out in sets of three to begin with, rather than build up to it.

She only missed four Cones, and she felt pretty accomplished in that. The ticket counter spat out ten tickets for her troubles and Star took them with enthusiasm. Somewhere in her purse she had the stash of tickets she'd been saving up, and soon that life sized taxidermy warnicorn would be hers.

“Okay, your turn!”

Iida's lips pinched together for a moment before he shook his head.

“While I appreciate your faith in my reactionary time, I think I may have a bit more luck in something else.”

Star's smile didn't die, and didn't let her disappointment show. She wasn't disappointed at Iida, more at herself, and so she would have to find a couple of games in here that he'd like.

“Yeah, it's not for everyone.” She shrugged and spun on her heel.

Star folded her arms and pinched her lips together as she scanned over the game booths in their general area.

“Do you wanna just wander till we find something or—oooohhh!” She cut herself off when she noticed something far more promising.

“‘Not Your Grandma's Zombie Game’ is open!” The two person shooter game was so rarely open. The Squares didn't tend to travel in packs, but somehow the damn game was always being used, and generally with four or five other duos standing in line behind the players.

“Is it a good game?” Iida bent over a bit—likely to get closer to her eye level to spot the game himself.

“It's Ah-MAY-Zing!” She grabbed Iida's arm and began to pull him to the game. “Pony and I were only able to play it once, but it was like... SO much fun!”

The arcade booth was a circular contraption, where you and your partner were supposed to stand back to back in the center of the ring and watch each others backs as horde upon horde of zombie came after the both of you.

Star holstered her wand as Iida entered one side of the blast ring, picking up the nearest fake blaster—a silver sheen painted over the the light giving crystal to make it look legitimate—and examined it closely.

She couldn't hold back a small chuckle when she unsheathed her own blaster and made sure it was in working order. “Okay, Iida, you wanna try it out?”

“Well... I may not be as competent as you are with projectile weaponry, but I will give it my best!”

He nodded at her—for a moment his glasses glared against the lights of the arcade. He held out a hand and it took Star a long second to realize that he wanted her to take it.

They clasped forearms, Star smiling as confidently, while Iida did his best to mirror her enthusiasm. Which was not an easy feat, granted that even Star knew she was far too energetic for her own good sometimes.

* * *

GAME START

“So basically you just shoot the zombies?”

“Yeah, but you gotta keep an eye on everything.”

The projection began to slowly spin around them, just slow enough to not cause motion sickness, but also just fast enough that one couldn’t easily divvy up the sides.

“Well that's hardly the most efficient fighting system! Spinning around in circles would do more to disorient a person than aid them!”

“That's why this is ‘Not Your Grandma's Zombie Game’.”

“The title was more descriptive than I anticipated it to be!”

“On your right!”

“Ah, thank you, Butterfly-kun!”

“No problem, Iida! And keep an eye on the barn--these levels are randomized, but there's always a horde in the barn.”

“Duly noted—Butterfly-kun! Your upper left!”

“Woah! That was close! You know you gotta get a shorter name for me...”

“I don't think there's much else that's appropriate—behind the pine tree!”

“On it!”

“Ah, it seems you were right about the barn.”

“You can just call me Star, you have my explicit permission. You can even use -kun if it helps, but saying 'Butterfly' all the time must be exhau—TOP RIGHT!”

“Oh _fuck_!”

“Iida! You can SWEAR?!”

“Butterfly-Kun I grew up in a pro-hero family. I was exposed to every swear word in the Japanese language by the time I was ten. On your left.”

“Oop! You never swear around us though! Not me or Ochako or Midoriya-kun, and we're your friends!”

“Didn't I just now?”

“Watch that window! And, well yeah, but not when we all hang out after school or anything!”

“Most of the places we often go it's considered inappropriate to swear, but in arcades its almost expected, is it not?”

“LOOK OUT!”

* * *

The two of them sat across from each other in the small benched area surrounding the snack bar, Star slowly packing down the two corndogs she'd ordered, while Iida inspected his own meal. He'd gotten a normal hotdog--which he'd loaded down with boring, old ketchup and mustard despite having LITERAL CHILI as an optional topping—but for the most part was mixing around his corn shake (Which Star had to pay the guy extra for, but that was neither here nor there)

Star took a sip of her own corn shake, pointedly.

“Come on, Mewni corn's not like Earth corn--corn shakes are good!”

“Butterfly-kun, I respect your tastes, and the corn lunch you prepared for me recently was indeed delicious, but I can't help but find myself concerned at such over reliance on one grain. I mean...” He lifted the shake up, squinting at the straw as though it were about to grow teeth and bite at him. “Should something go wrong with the crop it could doom the entire harvest...”

That was pretty funny, and sure she got that he was speaking from general concern, but it occurred to her just then that Iida had no idea just how far spread Mewni as a kingdom actually was.

“We have more than one corn field back home, Iida. And everything we don't grow ourselves we trade for.” She took a bite of her corndog--it was delicious. “And you can't look me in the eye and say not every culture has at least one grain they're overly attached to.”

He looked like he was about to respond for a moment before his jaw snapped shut, cheeks briefly turning a little pink. Star chuckled as he thought for a moment before nodding.

“I believe you have a point, Butterfly-kun, and I thank you for reminding me to check my own biases before insisting reason on a subject I know little about.”

He finally took a sip of the corn shake and Star could practically see the cartoon flowers begin to buzz around his head. She chuckled under her breath and began to wave her corndog in the air to emphasize her point.

“Ya see? Don't deny the deliciousness of a well mixed cornshake!”

He covered his mouth with his hand and nodded, like if he spoke he'd ruin it. It was cute.

Star blinked, the unbidden thought buzzing around her head. She diverted her gaze back to her corndog, jaw tightening for the briefest of moments before she took another pointed bite.

Tenya... was a good friend. Momo was her ‘Best Earth Bestie’ of course, and Ponyhead her ‘Best Mewni Bestie’, and ever since everything with Tom she'd been worried about starting another relationship--and she didn't want to ruin what she had with any of her Earth friends.

I mean, who couldn't use more friends after all?

So, what, he was cute. No big deal! It didn't mean Star had a crush on him, she was just able to passively appreciate him on an aesthetic level. She wasn't guaranteed to fall for any pretty face she saw!

Of course, she wouldn't go to these lengths to cheer up just another pretty face. But that was beside the point! She and Iida were friends. And letting something dumb like a crush get in the way of that would be a terrible idea.

Star was better than that.

“So other than the _great and delicious_ corn shakes, how are you liking the Amethyst arcade so far?”

Of course she'd caught Iida when he was in the middle of taking the first few bites of his hotdog. This time she let herself consider him cute without problem when he looked up at her, his cheeks bulging out like a chipmunk and eyes wider than normal when he looked up and over at her.

Star giggled and leaned onto her elbows, waiting patiently for him to finish up so he could answer.

“Well, uhm-” Iida coughed “I'd have to say while we've only played a small handful of games, I can say with some certainty that I now understand the appeal of arcades. However, I have noticed that we haven't done much to aid in your quest to retrieve your taxidermy...Warnicorn, was it?”

“Oh, those are the more tactile games. I mean, I know you were only okay with ‘Whack-a-Cone’, but we can try the other stuff out too? There's Cornball hoops, Sledball racks, ‘Mud Dropper’, ‘Bounce Master’, and ‘Nebula Frenzy’ reaaallyyy spits out tickets...” At the blank look she was given Star quickly tacked on, “I'll show you after we're done eating.”

She took a large bite of her corndog to emphasize her point.

* * *

Unfortunately, ‘Bounce Master’ had a huge line to it--half the Squares and a couple other dimensional guests like them were lined up before the giant trampoline--so they decided to save it for last, and only if the line should lessen.

“Okay, so Cornball normally has a huge system to play through, but the arcade version is pretty simple.” She put in a few tokens and watched four cornballs roll into the pick up pit. She took one and waited for Iida to follow her motion before she held the ball aloft.

“Actually, you might like this! You gotta kick the cornball into one of the hoops at the far end of the machine, and avoid the Stickler's net!” She tossed her cornball into the air before jumping, meeting it halfway and kicking it. The ball pinwheeled a few times before landing in the far right hoop. Five points came up on the scoreboard in front of the two of them.

“We get eight tries.”

“I see, it's a test of one's lower body strength as well as their aim in regards to distance projectiles...” Iida tossed the ball up in the air a couple of times to himself, most likely testing the weight. “This would be without quirks, I'm guessing?”

“No, you can use your engines! So long as you don't cross into the game console you can pretty much do whatever.” Something caught her eye and she gestured with a bit of grandiose at a winged monster holding themselves afloat at a different Cornball station a few consoles down.

“Oh! I see. Then please allow me a moment.” He handed Star the cornball before crouching down to roll up his pants. When his engines were adequately uncovered he took the ball back before making his own shot.

Honestly, with someone as fast of legs as Iida, Star should _not_ have been surprised he'd be as much of a beast at this game as he was.

Twenty points were added to their total score.

Star whistled low before picking up her second ball. “Nice kick! If you weren't so excited about being a hero, you'd make the Cornball Major Leagues in no time, Iida!”

While her kick style was a little jankier, she was able to manage to get her next ball into the center right hoop.

Ten points.

On Iida's second shot the automatic Stickler arm came out to catch the ball right before it sunk into the hoop.

“Oof.... That sucks.” Star couldn't help but smile a bit when Iida expression pinched, before he took the next Cornball into his hands. Before he could shoot it, however, he turned to Star.

“Oh! I'm sorry Butterfly-kun, I almost neglected to allow you your own turn!”

“Nah, you can keep going with this one, you're a better shot than me anyways!” She waved him off, but at the vaguely consternated look he gave her, Star pinched her lips together and glared at him. “I've been to this arcade so many times, you're the one I want to be happy today!”

After a moment of him just staring at her in that way that he did when he was absolutely sure that there was some strange Mewni Custom thing that he was missing, he nodded. “If you’re sure, then I will do my best!”

* * *

Star took the time to reserve their Lazer tag equipment for when it was time to head over to the Lazer tag dimension.

Iida was able to rack up a solid 105 points total without Star shooting for the outer rings. The machine spat out 20 tickets that Iida insisted be split between them both. While Star had claimed he earned them he'd insisted that he had nothing to save up for unlike her and would be content with simply a decorative eraser. So they compromised.

The two of them earned a lot more at the Sled Ball kiosks. It might have been skill, or it might have been due to it being similar to an Earth arcade game that Iida had seen played in multiple shows and cartoons before—'Skee Ball,' or something similar. Either way, the two of them were able to play at the same time, and it seemed as though she was just a little better. After all, experience trumps in comparison to just knowing how it works.

One of Star’s favorite games was Mud Dropper— it worked only if one had a steady hand, and Star's hands were the steadiest. The majority of the gameplay just consisted of maneuvering a tiny bucket around a small cage catching the fake mud before it hit the ground below.

They were pretty evenly matched in that one actually. She only beat Iida by the skin of her teeth and it wasn't even enough for an extra ticket in her winnings.

And of course, there was Nebula Frenzy: a wall covered in galaxies, and in the center of every galaxy was a light blue button. The official story was that you played as a force for order and when a button lit up it meant that galaxy had a star that was going supernova, and you had to quell it before it went out of control.

It was Star's second favorite game in the whole arcade (next to Bounce Master, but that was a high bar to live up to)

“It's a total ticket spitter. If you start on hard mode and you last just like, thirty seconds, you get like twenty tickets from the thing!”

“So you often come here to poach tickets.” Star turned to pout at Iida and he met her gaze with a small smirk. It was... almost surprising.

“You're messing with me!” His chuckle answered that accusation easily and Star shoved him with her shoulder. “I didn't even know you could do that!”

“There's many things we've yet to learn about each other. I only just today learned how you dump sugar on absolutely everything you can get your hands on before you eat it.”

“Food is anarchy, dude.”

“So you keep saying...”

“Anyway, you wanna help me?” She lifted a hand to mockingly repeat back at him “You wanna 'poach tickets' with me?”

“I can see the value in keeping one's reflexes sharp.”

And he stepped onto the podium with her.

* * *

When it was almost time to move on, the line for Bounce Master was still far too long for comfort, so they departed for the ticket booth with their earnings. Star would get him back here eventually. Probably with Midoriya, Momo, and Ochako with them so it would feel more like a group activity. (as opposed to a date, which this totally isn’t)

Maybe she'd be able to get the whole class to come with her next time. Star smiled to herself at the thought. Kaminari was probably one of those kids that's like... actually LEGENDARY at rhythm games and she'd love to see him go head to head with Ponyhead at Lance Lance Revolution.

That would be fun!

And then Star saw the prize counter prices and her eye began to twitch.

Iida peered into the low-count cheap bins, comparing the numbers to his own meticulously counted ticket chains, but Star had other plans.

“Hey! Ticket counter guy!” The arcade worker—a giant sloth wearing a purple t-shirt that had 'Amethyst Arcade' written in cursive along the back—turned from where he was dusting off the taxidermy Warnicorn and made his way over to her, slowly.

“What... can I help you with... Ma'am?”he blinked slowly at Star and she narrowed her eyes at him, placing her hands on the glass case protecting the higher quality prizes.

“You guys upped the ticket counts for prizes, didn't you?”

“Oh, did they?” Iida looked over as Star bent her arms a bit, trying to look a hair more menacing than before.

The sloth blinked slowly at her before looking into the middle distance. “All prizes at Amethyst Arcade are subject to change in the event of supply and demand shifting one way or the other.”

What a 'customer service' answer. Star's lips pinched to the side, but before she could question him further, Iida stepped in, free hand gesticulating with his words.

“I see! Well, we don't mean to be a bother then, sir.” He then pointed at the small basket of colorful erasers outrageously marked with a '50 tickets' sign and Star felt her hackles raise. “I'd like one of those erasers please.”

As the transaction went on Star's frown deepened. This was Iida's first adventure into another dimension that he didn't absolutely hate! She didn't want his only souvenir to be a silly eraser!

She reached into her purse and rummaged around a bit, before she found what she was looking for.

It was gonna eat up over half of her ticket savings but that was whatever. She was a princess and she could dedicate a few dozen more Saturdays into regaining what she was giving up.

But it was worth it to see Iida's eyes widen, and the Sloth to actually look physically affected as she pulled out a small mountain of tickets and threw her day's winning atop of it.

“One plushie narwhal please.” The plushie narwhals were pricey even before today, only a couple of tiers below the Warnicorn and at about the same level as the pewter friendship rings in the glass box below her. With the new price hike they were way more than they were before, but that made it even more satisfying to Star.

The narwhals weren't that big, just an average plushie size (the biggest plushies were the plush teddy bears just barely below the prized warnicorn, which were taller than she was) but the soft, fuzzy material they were made of and the quality of the stitching were what made them so desirable.

Well,that and their design—they were just so cute with their big eyes and cheery smiles! They were the design Star based her Narwhal Blast on, they were just that cute.

“Butterfly-kun, I thought you were saving up for-!”

“Aup-up-up!” She waved off Iida's concerns as the Sloth began to run her ticket chains through the counter machine. “It's my stash so I can do what I want with it. None of these are expired yet, huh sloth-buddy?”

Sloth blinked slowly, his eyes still wide but his motions unchanged. “Everything is... here. Enjoy... your narwhal.” it took maybe thirty seconds or so more than it would have with a non-sloth worker, but Star had the fluffy narwhal in her arms soon enough.

“Here!” She pushed it into Iida's arms almost immediately. “You should have more than just an eraser for today!”

His cheeks turned a bright scarlet, and Star found herself having to hold her arms firm as he struggled to push the narwhal back to her.

“I couldn't accept such a gift, Butterfly-kun! I already have a momento after all! You keep it, you earned it!”

“An eraser shaped like a cupcake is barely anything!”

“It's more than enough for me! It's a practical object and can remind me of our adventure on this day whenever I use it!”

Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.

“Yeah, but you deserve something cooler too!”

“I don't understand why you're pressing this on me! Is this another part of your misplaced sense of debt?!”

“Please keep all fights over custody of prizes away from the prize counter.”

And so Star had to take back the narwhal just so they could walk and argue at the same time.

Well, it was hardly arguing if someone asked her—now the spats she used to get in with Tom, _those_ were arguments—but it was a disagreement and they were both very loud people, so if anyone else were to look in on them and not know how they were, it would look like a full-on fight.

“It's not debt stuff! You're my friend and I want you to have a cool thing to show off at the end of the day!”

“Well, I'm very flattered, but you earned those tickets yourself and it wouldn't be right of me to accept a gift that you dumped far too much of your savings on!”

“It's barely anything! I've been saving for the Warnicorn for barely a couple of months—I can make up the difference easy!”

They were arguing in circles and Star knew that at this point. But she also knew their equipment reservations were almost ready in the Lazer Tag dimension. So she stuffed the Narwhal into her purse.

“This isn't over.” She hissed before pulling out the Dimensional Scissors.

* * *

And it wasn't over. Star gave up her purse to the locked cubbies and wrote down the number on her forearm, and there, with the Lazer Tag Cashier as her witness, an idea came to mind.

“How about a bet?” Iida only glanced at her briefly as the two of them were escorted into the prep room.

A Square began to measure Star's shoulders while a Slime Monster began to measure Iida's as both of them were fitted for lazer vests.

“Butterfly-kun, we're minors. Gambling is highly illegal.”

“Not in this dimension!” the Slime monster chirped in reply. “Gambling age is thirteen around here!”

“See?” Star looked over her shoulder as her sensors were slid over her dress. “Okay look, you haven't done Lazer Tag before, and it's all aiming in the dark and running for cover and it's basically a fire fight when those smoke machines come on. We've only had a couple of firearm lessons with Snipe this semester and I know it's one of those things you're not amazing at just yet. So how's this?”

She turned fully to face Iida then, the chest plate and shoulder plates on her vest began to glow a bright indigo, an indigo that his own chest plate began to mirror. “This place works in teams, whoever goes in together places together, so we play. We give it our all, and when our time runs out, the scores will tell us the truth.”

She lifted her hand for him to shake. “If we make it into the top twenty you keep the narwhal, if we don't, I keep it.”

Iida hesitated for a moment, the numbers likely buzzing through his head as he considered risk and reward (but really his reward if he won the bet would be his pride, so even looking back years later Star would still insist that he secretly wanted the narwhal the whole time) and wordlessly shook her hand.

And while their hands were still clasped she added on: “Also if I win you have to call me Star-kun!”

He shot her a dry look that she honestly couldn't _not_ laugh at.

With their bet locked in, the doors into the pre-fight room opened. While their sensors were fitted they now needed guns and score counters. There were lines upon lines of different sized and styled blasters. Star made a beeline to the furthest corner of the room, scanning the shelves until she found it. The Good Rack.

Though Iida would never sabotage himself in any situation, she knew setting them up for success would be seen as cheating on her end. So she kept knowledge of The Good Rack to herself. Ponyhead, Kelly, Tad, Tom, and Star herself had spent visit after visit locating the best guns and arranging them so they'd always be in the same place. Star grabbed the lightweight rifle with just the _tiniest _heart scribbled on the side in Mewni Ink—It was the rifle she'd picked out for herself, lightweight, and it always pulls just a little to the right, but the strongest beam in the whole armory.__

“Protip!” She shouted out. “Never take the guns in the front row. They're too popular with people who don't know any better so they've always got more wear and tear. Faulty triggers and all that.”

Iida nodded and sent her a thumbs up to indicate he'd heard her, but thankfully he'd assumed something similar and was paging through the middle racks for a good gun.

Star had to walk up to the employee that guards the battleground doors to ask her to strap the armband with her timer and scorecard to her bicep. The employee—a woman with red eyes and dark green hair held up in a semi-bun, smiled knowingly at her, and after a moment Star recognized her. She was a manager that had seen her group multiple times, she knew about The Good Rack, and Star's gun on it.

Star smiled nervously back, and she rolled her eyes before carefully strapping the armband to her bicep. The band was connected by a thick line of wires to the gun so it could properly record what a person hit and how many points it was worth.

“I see you've brought a new friend, Miss Butterfly. Let’s hope he's less virulent than your former troupe.”

Iida strolled up then, his own rifle selected—it was similar in build to Star's, but the green stripes along the side meant it was a spam trigger, the kind that you can fire a bunch of beams at once if you hold the trigger down.

As the manager set up Iida's armband Star pointedly did _not_ look in their direction. It would be weird to ogle her friend's muscles. Besides, all the boys in their class had muscles. It was nothing strange.

She took the time to double check her rifle, making sure the nozzle was at the angle it was in last time—which it was, thankfully.

“Okay, Team Indigo, you're all set up,” the manager finally announced. “Now remember, we've got three rules here: no climbing on anything without a stairwell on it, no physical contact with other teams, and no Sensor Dogging.”

Tenya immediately raised his hand after that. “Excuse me, Ma'am I must admit my ignorance, Can you please explain what Sensor Dogging is?”

“Sure. Sensor Dogging is following one specific person and firing at their sensors again and again so their gun won't re-engage. Just don't do that, it's tacky and it ruins everyone else's fun.”

“I can assure you neither of us would ever do something so unsportsmanlike!”

The manager laughed and Star could practically FEEL the oncoming burn.

“Oh, _she_ wouldn't, but her fluffy friend would.”

Star felt her cheeks heat up as Iida turned to look at her shocked.

“Butterfly-kun!” He sounded so scandalized.

“Well... okay so...”she realized after a beat she couldn't explain the Festival of the Sun Day Incident without explaining the Festival of the Sun, and that was just too big of an explanation to attempt before the last doors opened. “To be completely fair Kelly broke up with Tad for almost a full week for his shenanigans because he almost got her banned with him.”

At the twist of Iida's lips she could tell he was considering starting a minor tirade about how Kelly should heighten her standards for boys because 'this Tad fellow seems to be bad news'. As if Star didn't already know that much—but hey, it was Kelly's choice and she'd respect that.

But before he could begin his rant the manager called out a quick 'don't forget to have fun!' and the doors slid open.

Conversation died. She knew it was a game, he knew it was a game, but it was a game that decided who would be going home with their pride, and who would be going home with a stuffed narwhal.

And then they charged.

* * *

The lazers were everywhere. Star was easily racking up points, always shooting just a little farther to the left and watching her victims respond in shock when the lazer bends just a bit and nails their sensors.

Yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, orange, all turning to a flashing red on the other end of her nozzle. Of course, she wasn't perfect either—Star was always pretty lousy at dodging, so she'd been grazed a couple of times and had to duck for cover.

She and Iida had tried to stay together at first, but a bunch of jerks who snuck strobe lights into the battlefield with them had minorly blinded her, and by the time the light stains had faded from her vision she'd realized they'd been separated.

Star glanced at her point counter.

4200

Not good enough. Good, but not good enough. At 100 points per opponent shot they needed to at least make it into the 10,000s to make it into the top 20 on an average day.

She needed to find Iida, they needed to figure out a plan and make sure they wouldn't get separated again.

Then, finally—thankfully—an idea came to her.

Taking in a quick scan of her surroundings, Star found a tower not too far from where she was. She couldn't assume it would be unoccupied, so she had to be willing to fight her way up.

And... come on. She was Star Butterfly, of course she was able to fight her way up. Honestly it was kind of child's play. She'd just hang to the inside of the spiral staircase and spam the trigger around the corner until she heard someone swear loudly, and then she'd move on to the next couple of stairs.

By the time the kid at the top of the tower was grumbling and their vest was flashing red, Star had already thought up a plan, but she needed Iida to enact it.

Her wand usually fit snugly into her dress pockets most days, but without any pockets in this dress she'd been forced to store it in a woman's only extra pocket:her hair.

She didn't have anything super cool about her hair—it wasn't the pocket dimension like Kelly's could be—but it was big and fluffy enough that she could put stuff in it with relative ease.

With a flick of her wrist the outer rim of the wand extended outward, becoming a megaphone.

Taking a deep breath, Star shouted into the fray.

“Will the Class President please report to the tallest tower in the Southern Sector? Repeat, Class President please report to the tallest tower in the Southern Sector. Also a reminder for those of you from Earth, Quirks are fair game.” Of course she was giving away her location, but her aim was good enough to make up for the small slip up.

They had twenty minutes left until their scores became final.

If Star wanted to leave with her pride, then they had twenty minutes to make it into twentieth place.

So she opted to save time and hopped from the tower instead of going down the stairs to meet a bunch of revenge seekers guarding the tower stairwell. Technically that didn't void the lazer tag rules since the tower itself had stairs.

“Cotton Candy Airbag!” She fired the spell at the ground and up sprouted a pink cloud of cotton candy to cushion her fall. Taking a small handful to stuff into her mouth, Star waved the cotton candy away after touching the ground again. Food that comes from magic rarely tasted very good. Grandma Comet was the only person to find a way to make magic tasty, and even then she started with normal ingredients.

So she spent the next short while holding the tower, firing at the group of boys who were holding the tower before her, when they started shooting for her at the base of the thing.

Thankfully she didn't need to wait long, because soon enough the faintest glimmer of indigo on almost the complete opposite side of the arena sped its way toward the tower. Star waved as Iida approached, and he cleared the last bit of distance between them, skidding to a stop.

“Butterfly-kun!” It was a little hard to make out his facial features in the dim light, but the faint indigo from his vest could at least let her see him grin at their reuniting.

She smiled and closed the remaining distance to hug him.

“I hope you didn't split with me on purpose so we'd lose and you'd win our bet!”

He made an affronted noise “I would never stoop so low! If I do indeed win our bet it is simply due to my inability to properly aim with this gun!” he shot at the tower behind her to emphasize his point. The spam trigger had about a two second delay before it began to flash.

“Oooohhh, yeah that's not good. Easy for someone to dodge if they know you're shooting at them.”

“Though I've avoided most shots on my own person—and that was mostly due to my quirk I would likely be out of luck entirely if this dimension did not allow such advantages.” Iida lifted a hand to his chin. But after a lazer came from nowhere to ignite Star's vest they had to seek shelter.

Thankfully they had an entire tower to converse in. So about halfway up the steps they both sat down to plan.

Star glanced at her timer—their times had dropped to fifteen minutes. They needed a plan, sure, but they also needed it fast.

And then it hit her.

“Hey! Let me see your score.” Iida raised a brow at her, but shifted so she could see his own arm band.

A paltry 500 blinked at her and Star hummed.

“Okay here's what I got. You're great at dodging, and I'm good at shooting. I'd have way more points if I didn't get hit as much as I do.” As if on cue her vest turned from the flashing red of penalty to the indigo of 'ready to fire'

“I'm used to my gun, and I know how to navigate a spam trigger with a delay.”

“Please don't tell me you're about to say--”

“And we don't have shoulder sensors here, so clearly the solution is--”

“Butterfly-Kun it would be highly impractical.”

“Let me ride on your shoulders while I double wield our guns.” He let out a scandalized squeak when she finished her thought. Even in the dim light of their chest plates she could see his face turn bright red.

“Butterfly-kun I will not let you ride on my shoulders while you're wearing a dress!”

“But it plays to both of our strengths! You run, I aim! Wait, no, even better: You run, I gun! Oooohhh, like the videogame kind! And we could incorporate it as, like, a duo move! If we ever get paired up for a practical lesson! No one would know that we could just stack on top of each other and become a speedy, magical assault tank!” She struck a pose then, pointing her blaster as though it were her wand.

She caught sight of her timer again. Thirteen minutes.

“We don't have much time to come up with anything else, Iida.”

Tenya thought for a moment then, arms folded and eyes closed, before he sighed.

“I suppose I see the value in your assessment. However.” His face turned red again. “Please tell me those are tights and not socks.” Star's own cheeks heated up, and she was very quick to assure Iida of the former.

She felt her wings buzz excitedly at her back, as though anticipating being off the ground again. But it wasn't near as interesting as her instincts wanted it to be. In fact it was almost boring. Iida crouching down so Star could climb up onto his shoulders, being passed his blaster, and feeling both of her legs around the tops of her boots being encompassed by his—frankly MASSIVE—hands.

“Are you alright?” he asked as he went from his crouch into a running position.

Star leaned forward, then back, she angled both guns in various directions, and grinned.

“Let's do this.”

She felt more than heard his engines powering up, a vibration that set her bones rattling for a moment. But then they were moving, and her world tightened down to chest sensors and the lasers that lit them red.

She knew her own gun a little better of course, so she still favored it a little more while fighting, but Tenya's gun got some good use too, the spam trigger was best while encountering groups.

She beat a sniper at his own game at a glance so honestly she felt like she had some pretty solid aim.

And through it all Tenya was beneath her, being legs enough for the two of them. Bobbing and weaving, and pulling them so fast some people didn't even know that they were looking at two people at all.

Honestly, Star was so engrossed that her mind was beginning to wander. Point and shoot point and shoot point and hold and point and shoot.

She could already imagine how it would work with hero stuff, the hardest part would probably be not clanging her armor against his as they got situated, but she could see shooting of hundreds of cupcakes and narwhals from this vantage point.

Speaking of which—Star glanced at her arm band:

10100

He was SO getting that narwhal.

Her chest lit up red then, someone getting a lucky shot while Star was distracted. So she switched to Iida's gun until she lit up Indigo again.

* * *

In the end they didn't end up number twenty.

Or number ten.

With a combined score of 19100 they were number five when their armbands buzzed and their vests lit up a solid red.

Star was out of breath, as was Iida. Her arms ached and after ten minutes of near constant quirk usage, she was sure his legs must have felt the same. But all the same, it felt good.

For a moment they just watched the scoreboard magic mirror repeat their scores back to them. The light green words accentuated by projected fireworks.

“Not bad for a first time, huh?” was the first thing she could think to say.

Iida was quiet still, brows furrowed as he continued to stare at the scorecard. He huffed, then chuckled, then before Star knew it he was collapsed to the ground, still breathless but filling the silence with quiet, sedate chuckles.

Of course then Star crouched beside him. They were supposed to be taking off their vests and armbands right now of course, but there were more important things in life.

“You okay?”

He shook his head at her, but despite that, answered the opposite. “Yes... Yes I believe I will be. It's just....” when he looked at her then his eyes looked just a touch brighter than they were before. “While we were in there it was like everything else faded away.” Star must have looked as confused as she felt, because he shrugged (a rather un-Iida like mannerism if one asked her, but she did discover today that he also knew numerous swear words, so maybe he was just full of surprises for her to uncover) and elaborated. “I'm not like you. The attack on the USJ was my first real fight and I didn't even fight in it. Hosu was the first time I went up against a real villain, and...” He swallowed hard.

It was only then that Star realized that the story the press released maybe wasn't the full story at all.

“I didn't do very well. I'm not used to fighting monsters yet, and you've been fighting since before you came here.” He paused for a moment then. “But in there it felt different. Everything that had happened had faded into the background, and I felt like...” When he smiled at her then, got as close to meeting her eye as he was comfortable with—looking at her cheekmarks. “It felt like it never happened. We were just a couple of Hero Hopefuls... 'Sacrificing a Saturday to the Party Gods', as you've so eloquently said before.”

He started flapping one of his hands up and down, his excitable motions indicating that he was going back to his normal Iida mode. “It was a lot of fun, is my point. Both an exercise in teamwork and an exercise in making one's weaknesses work for them! Perhaps we could bring our friends with us when we come next! Midoriya-kun could use it, I believe.”

It was only then that they began to remove their armor, and the manager that had been watching them before they came in, shot them both a specific look again as they put their guns and vests into the ‘used equipment’ bin.

“The top five get their pictures taken and put into the montage reel.” She started simply when the two of them finally left the post-battle room.

“Ah! I see. Alright then!” Iida responded before she could. “But allow us a moment, as we need to settle things.”

Oh yeah, the bet!

“Hey, I need to open locker 34#GH27! It's got our bet prize in it!” the manager woman sighed.

“Is it a weapon of any kind?”

“No, it's our pride.”

She smiled at Star then and walked away, vanished when she turned the corner, and returned with Star's purse hanging from her grasp.

“This is all that was in there, yes?” Star nodded and her bag was returned to her.

And sure enough, unzipping the bag revealed the fluffy chipper narwhal grinning up at her.

She smiled and puffed out her chest. “Tenya Iida. With our score being well within the top 20, you have lost our bet. And as per customs, that means the loss penalty is yours for claiming.” She took the narwhal out and offered it to him.

Iida's lips pinched to the side, their argument from earlier no doubt playing back in his head, before taking the narwhal from her grip.

“Very well, Star Butterfly. I am a man of my word. And though in our home dimension, gambling is illegal for minors, in this dimension I can honor my loss.”

A Camera flash went off, and lo and behold, before either could object, the manager had put the picture into their 'top five hall of fame'

And, well, it wasn't a BAD picture... But still, not cool.

* * *

The sun was starting to get low on the horizon when they finally returned to Earth. Iida had the narwhal under his arm, and Star had the cupcake eraser— because apparently the bet only mattered in range of ownership of the narwhal so therefore he could give her the eraser and feel better about the whole debacle.

“So, ideally that was enough of an adventure to finally rid you of your debt and free your mind from stress so you could properly study!”

Star chuckled.They were standing at the step up to Iida's house now and saying their goodbyes.

“Yeah, my fiendish plans are all complete and I can throw myself into being forced into studies by Momo.”

“I would be happy to assist you as well, Butterfl...” he stopped for a moment, coughed into his hand, and continued. “Star-kun.” Even in the sepia tones of sunset she could see his blush return to his cheeks, and Star felt her own face mirror his for a moment before an excited grin took its place.

“You called me Star!”

“Well... you did make that part of our bet, it's only fair that I make an attempt....”

But Star's exuberance was too much for such a simple shrug off.

After a moment of bouncing up and down in place, she finally shouted,“Hugs!” with her arms spread wide she pounced.

Iida really did give the best hugs, even when he didn't expect them. His arms were big and long, and Star just felt so _safe_. He wasn't very soft, of course, because most of his body was made of muscle, but that didn't really matter to her.

He squeezed her one last time, and she copied the motion before the two of them pulled apart.

“Thanks for humoring me today, Iida. I hope you're feeling a little better, too.”

He didn't look surprised at Star's inadvertent confession of guilt, and she wondered if he always knew she was only doing this to try and help him. But that didn't really matter, she supposed. She waved goodbye to him and began to leave in the direction of Momo's house.

He stayed on the porch to wave her off until she lost sight of him around the corner, the fluffy narwhal still in his arms.

* * *

A few months later, after summer came and went—after she watched literally all of her best besties on Earth minus Ochako walk away from her and into the lion's den, unable to help at all beyond summoning Spider with a Tophat and getting him to ride on Todoroki's shoulder to provide cover fire if need be—they were all showing off their rooms for each other. Ochako and Ashido and the other girls were mostly distracted by Iida's extra glasses and the stacks upon stacks of books, but something else drew Star's eye.

An odd sort of warmth bloomed in her chest when she saw the happy narwhal sitting in the place of honor beside Iida's pillow. He didn't have to bring it with him into the dorms. But for some reason, he did.

The others were beginning to move on, then, and Kaminari's room was next on the list. But Star lingered behind for a bit. Iida, of course, wouldn't leave until everyone else was out of his room, but that was kind of her intention.

“Star-kun? Are you alright?”

“Why did you bring it? You didn't have to bring your token of losing a bet just because I'm here, too.” She, of course, was more confused than anything else, but she hoped the playful lit to her voice didn't make it seem like she was mocking him.

He blinked at her one moment. Worried look falling into something more pensive, he looked over Star's shoulder, likely gazing at the narwhal itself, before looking back at her.

“It's a reminder to never underestimate people, and the lengths we can go to to help each other.” He walked further into his room to pick up the stuffed toy. “Also it's simply a memory. Of a time I had a fun Saturday with a friend from another world.” He smiled at her and she returned the grin.

The warm something in her stomach grew, and before she knew it they were both only able to get a quick glance into Kaminari's room before the rest of the group moved on to Kouda's.

She could quash feelings when she needed to, She'd never actively go after someone who already had a girlfriend, or let herself develop feelings for someone who already had a crush, but... you know...She was a teenager. And Iida was both untethered by relationships, and as far as she knew had no crushes nor anyone crushing on him.

He was her friend, and she would never try to ruin that if he didn't want it too, but maybe... just maybe... it would be okay if she let this bloom.

It had been long enough since breaking up with Tom that it probably wasn't rebound-itis. And even though she probably shouldn't be in a relationship, there was no harm in just letting feelings happen, right?

Right.

Everyone had at least one crush that went absolutely nowhere anyway, it wasn't like she was treading any new territory. It was fine, nothing was going to come of it. She was just letting herself feel, and letting herself be happy.

And if Tenya Iida made her happy, then that was no one's business but her own, was it?

**Author's Note:**

> You know it almost physically hurts me to put the suffix's in, but it's the only way Iida's most notable verbal tick can still exist. The BNHA dub tried to emulate it, and they only did kinda okay, so we do what we must.


End file.
